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Archive for the ‘reputation’ Category

SEOMoz has come out with some superb information once again that every SEO specialist and every webmaster should read. The Google Search Engine Ranking Factors Report summarizes the opinion of all the top SEO specialists (except me…hmmm, I guess I am not quiote at the top yet), many of whom I personally admire. The report rates various factors for their importance to Google rankings.

Below is the lsit of the top 10 most important factors, according to these esteemed SEO specialists. I would probably rate the factors in a similar order.

In SEO for Reputation Management: Part I, we made the strategic decisions of what Amanda wanted people toi see when they Search Google or Yahoo for her name. In Part II, we took inventory of what is already on the Information Highway that she can use to that end.

Now it’s time to put together the plan. Time has slipped through my fingers, and Amanda (not her real name, remember?) has already begun implementing some of the plan. At the end of this post, I’ll share with you her interim results.

I won’t go through all the details, but some of the major recommendations were…

1. Her blog was being used very, very sporadically. More frequent posts, occasionally speaking in the third person, would help (I probably should mention that this is David Leonhardt’s blog in every post and put my name in the Blog Title above as Amanda does, but I never put together a reputation management plan for myself!). In fact, I recommended a post about herself, something I should do one of these days, too. This should secure a second listing in Google’s top 10 for her blog.

2. She owns the domain of her name, but it points to her blog. I recommended developing her domain to include certain content that would help her get double listings Google’s top 10 for her name.

3. I suggested ways to make her two blogger profiles work to her advantage.

4. I suggested ways to boost the rankings also of a few of the various places where she has articles right now (or then) on the Internet.

5. I suggested a few places where she could build a good reputation directly, that could also rank highly in the search engines or support the rankings of her other pages. For instance, I pointed out my pages at MySpace, Zaadz, Squidoo, MyBlogLog and TagWorld. I haven’t done near enough with any of these, mind you, but I will. Honest.

6. I also recommended a multi-faceted linking campaign, geared to the various types of pages Amanda was trying to boost in the rankings.

SEO Reputation Management Plan Progress report.

On Google’s top 10 right now…

1. Amanda’s Blogger profile. She has another Blogger profile, but it has not been worked on yet and it is not ranking.

2. Her blog. She has been doing more posts, but not yet what is needed for a second page to rank. I have offered some additional details.

3. One of the pages I mentioned in item #4 above.

4. and 5. A new appearance by another offensive blogger, posted two years ago. How these two postings got up in the rankings is anybody’s guess, but it is likely the result of something that happened sitewide (as opposed to something related to these two specific posts). As the linking campaign kicks in, the two offensive posts should sink.

6. Amanda’s MySpace profile. More can be done to make this a double listing. Possibly.

7. Amanda’s under construction and 99% unoptimized site on her own-name domain. When the site is finished, there should be two pages from this domain in the top 10.

8. and 9. Two more of the pages I mentioned in item #4 above.

10. Amanda’s MySpace page. More can be done to make this a double listing. Definitely. I’ve made some additional suggestions.

So there you have it. Some promising interim results. One can do much to manage one’s reputation using sound, responsible SEO techniques.

We’ve been following Amanda and her quest to manage her online reputation when a potential client searches for her name. We covered the first part of her strategy in SEO for Reputation Management: Part I.

Now it’s time for Amanda to take inventory. She is actually in an enviable position. She starts out with her own domain name, a blogspot.com blog with a blogger.com profile, contributions at a couple other group blogs, and several articles she has written (Amanda is a writer, remember?)

Remember that search engines will list one or two pages from any single domain, so to make sure the right information fills the first page (top 10 results), it requires at least five domains and at most 10.

In Amanda’s case, her domain points to her blog, so she is wasting an obvious opportunity. If she develops her domain, she should be able to occupy two of the top spots for her name. Her blog should be able to occupy two of the top spots and her blogger.com profile should be able to occupy just one.

That leaves five more pages required, ideally her own writings or testimonials to her writing. The problem with working to get some of Amanda’s best writing to the top of the rankings is that she cannot control the content or format of the pages…nor can she even be sure they will exist six month hence.

We identified those articles and group blog posts with the most likelihood of lasting, as well as a page where readers debated the merits of one of her articles, given that there is no better testimonial to the quality of a writer’s work than it’s ability to generate interest, even debate.

Anyone whose business depends on trust and credibility needs to be concerned about reputation management. Most people don’t give two thoughts to the search engines when they think of protecting or enhancing their good names. But consider where you would go to check up on someone you plan to trust with a valuable project. That’s right…Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN.

This SEO for reputation management blog series will interest you if you are…

an accountant

a lawyer

a therapist, naturopath or any other health service provider

and SEO specialist

a consultant of any kind

a personal trainer

a writer or editor

an artist of any kind

a web designer or programmer

a virtual assistant

a home inspector

anyone else in the service sector

What do people find when they Google your name? One writer (let’s call her “Amanda”) came to us because they found her blog in the top two spots, but in positions 3 and 4 they found a very disparaging blog post. (Blogging is about being real; it does not have to be about being rude!)

Obviously, she wanted to move that blog post down, out of Google’s top ten for her name. That’s not how SEO works. SEO is about moving a website up in the rankings, not down. The only way to move a website out of Google’s top ten, is by moving ten web pages ahead of it into Google’s top ten. We told Amanda that we could help restore her maligned reputation using SEO techniques.

We knew what Amanda did not want potential clients to see when they Googled her name. Amanda’s reputation management SEO campaign began by identifying what she did want them to see:

Her own website that lays out her credentials in a professional manner, so that potential clients see that they would be dealing with a professional in whom they can trust their project.

Samples of her work, so that potential clients see the quality of her work (easy for a writer, as well as for an artist; much harder for a medical practitioner or an accountant.

Testimonials. Better yet, rave reviews. Any third-party testaments to the quality of her work and her professionalism.